I've toyed with the idea of shooting Monochrome for a long time and have dipped my toes in here and there. Over time I told myself, that if i want better Color imagery, I should shoot as though I were shooting for good black & white results. So I've tried that over the years, but never have seen what my images would look like going from Color to Monochromatic.
So with PS CS3 and NIK's Silver Efex Pro filters, here's my efforts.
I'm no Ansel, but I think they came ok fine, what do you think?
Posted by Mel Ladewig on August 15, 2008 at 11:30 AM
James,
I'm personally biased towards color photography. I like B&W photography just fine, but I prefer color.
Its just my point of view, but I don't think shooting good B&W makes for a photographer who can shoot good color. I think the two are so completely different that they do not translate from one to another. A good color photograph may make a good B&W photograph, but it may not. A good B&W image, I think more often than not would not make a good color image.
That said, I think the two sand dunes ones work really well as B&W images as you've managed the conversion. The tones fill the range from white to black and it is frankly an interesting shot. The Garden shots I don't like so well. In the tree with snow shot, the tree gets lost in the dark sky and the snow doesn't separate from the white sandstone. I don't have a particular complaint on the one taken between the kissing camels and the white ridge, but I don't see how B&W is an improvement on the color version of that shot. The other shots just seem somewhat gray.
Posted by Jeremy Week on August 15, 2008 at 12:08 PM
I like your efforts James
You done a great job of choosing subjects that benefit most from your technique. I'd like to see more in
the future.
Posted by Grant Collier on August 15, 2008 at 12:24 PM
These all work pretty well in b&w. I think a lot of the pics have too many areas that are pure black. If you can keep more details in the shadows, I think they'll be better.
Posted by Joshua Hardin on August 15, 2008 at 12:33 PM
This is a nice collection James. I also especially like the Sand Dunes photos but the Sierra Blanca photo is stunning! It seems to me that the ones that have great clouds also make the best BW conversions.
Posted by Don Grall on August 15, 2008 at 12:34 PM
It's really hard to judge tonal gradations with the small size photos presented. It's better to see prints in order to judge the final results. That said the ones you've chosen look pretty decent on my screen with good contrast. Good luck on furthering this development!
Like Mel, I also favor color over B&W for almost any subject matter. Color is a visual language that I can understand better. I've looked at most Ansel Adams photos and have always wondered how they would look in color, but have never looked at a color photo and wondered how it would look in B&W. I grew up watching B&W television until I was almost 12 yrs old., I wonder if the wonderful transition to color television is what prejudiced me.
Posted by Brett Deacon on August 15, 2008 at 1:17 PM
Nice conversions James! Numbers 4 and 7 are good, and #2 is a definite wall-hanger. I'm partial to color for my own work but a great black and white image is a thing of beauty. I've taken a small number of color images over the years that look better in B&W. These are usually high contrast scenes with dramatic clouds and dark blue skies - much like the dunes shots that really stood out for me on your website. It's easy for me to get carried away and overdarken skies and shadow areas, which I see a bit of in your conversions. I’ve also noticed that doing so tends to degrade these areas in my DSLR images, creating a grainy appearance and robbing the image of the amazing tonality you often find in true B&W images.
Nice images, James, and even better conversation starter. There are a lot of very talented photographers who post here so, to a certain degree, my upcoming generalizations won't apply but here goes.
I've always felt that B&W has made and continues to make me a better photographer because it forces me to concentrate on composition and tonalities rather than just photographing something that's a "purty color." I don't (at least in my narrow perception) fall into that pattern very often but when I do, switching the way I think and the way I see to monochrome makes me slow down and think about what I'm shooting.
We've all seen and most of us have shot images that were not necessarily great images technically, but were very very colorful. Color for the sake of color. Sometimes it works, more often it doesn't. Thinking in B&W helps me avoid that.
Posted by Stan Rose on August 16, 2008 at 11:48 AM
Sweet, James! Love the Dunes shots, wish i had some snow to work with on Thursday!
Posted by Dan Walters on August 17, 2008 at 9:38 AM
Really like how those images turned out! Love the textures and the shadows. Really like the Ashcroft Ghost Town image.
Posted by D J Kuklinski on August 17, 2008 at 3:16 PM
I've always been partial to B&W myself. I think your collection is wonderful; I don't see anything wrong with any of them, but then I tend to like darker B&W images.
Posted by Rajeev Thomas on August 18, 2008 at 11:22 AM
James, nice to see your work!! Especially when it is a collection Dunes shots are the best as mentioned above by everyone. I think in some pics you can open up the black a bit more like #20 Maroon Bells shot and in #25 Morraine Park Morning may be you can darken the area where the sky and mountains meet? The mountain seems to blend in with the sky.Another suggestion is to reduce the contrast. I am familiar with Nik filters as well, it tends to add too much of black and contrast. I think like in color shots we tend to over saturate, in B&W shots we tend to spice them up with both Besides the dune shots that I love I think the first one of Dream Lake and Crystal Creek falls ones are BEAUTIFUL!! regards, Rajeev.
Discussion
12 repliesSo with PS CS3 and NIK's Silver Efex Pro filters, here's my efforts.
http://naturephotographynaturall.smugmug.com/gallery/5700692_ggjio
I'm no Ansel, but I think they came ok fine, what do you think?
I'm personally biased towards color photography. I like B&W photography just fine, but I prefer color.
Its just my point of view, but I don't think shooting good B&W makes for a photographer who can shoot good color. I think the two are so completely different that they do not translate from one to another. A good color photograph may make a good B&W photograph, but it may not. A good B&W image, I think more often than not would not make a good color image.
That said, I think the two sand dunes ones work really well as B&W images as you've managed the conversion. The tones fill the range from white to black and it is frankly an interesting shot. The Garden shots I don't like so well. In the tree with snow shot, the tree gets lost in the dark sky and the snow doesn't separate from the white sandstone. I don't have a particular complaint on the one taken between the kissing camels and the white ridge, but I don't see how B&W is an improvement on the color version of that shot. The other shots just seem somewhat gray.
You done a great job of choosing subjects that benefit most from your technique. I'd like to see more in
the future.
Like Mel, I also favor color over B&W for almost any subject matter. Color is a visual language that I can understand better. I've looked at most Ansel Adams photos and have always wondered how they would look in color, but have never looked at a color photo and wondered how it would look in B&W. I grew up watching B&W television until I was almost 12 yrs old., I wonder if the wonderful transition to color television is what prejudiced me.
I've always felt that B&W has made and continues to make me a better photographer because it forces me to concentrate on composition and tonalities rather than just photographing something that's a "purty color." I don't (at least in my narrow perception) fall into that pattern very often but when I do, switching the way I think and the way I see to monochrome makes me slow down and think about what I'm shooting.
We've all seen and most of us have shot images that were not necessarily great images technically, but were very very colorful. Color for the sake of color. Sometimes it works, more often it doesn't. Thinking in B&W helps me avoid that.